I really like Malick (as others on here have noted in the past) but this one was a real test of my appreciation. It's very much in the same vein as The Tree of Life - in fact it's so similar it's borderline Tree of Life part 2. However, where Tree of Life had some pretty meaty themes underneath the artsy-fartsyness (death, life, the meaning of existence), this was really just a fairly mundane love story.

Not that the point of these things is the story, but wile the imagery was still STUNNING (really truly breathtakingly beautiful), because it wasn't that thought-provoking, it made sitting through the two odd hours a real challenge.

And it was a challenge most of the cinema wasn't up for. I'd say pretty much half had left by the end. Never seen so many people walk out a film. I suspect most thought they were just seeing a Ben Affleck romantic drama, but even some of the more beard-scratchy types lost patience as well.

I think it's worth watching if you like Malick, but I think it ultimately fails where Tree of Life succeeded. It's in many ways a superb piece of film making, and yet at the same time, I think it probably is quite a bad film - if that makes sense...

I haven't seen it in a very long time but I remember finding it quite funny. Very dark humour less, but it made the artsyness easier to stomach somehow (possibly not the right phrase for this film...).

The Cook...is one of those films, I find compelling, despite also wanting to be sick all the way through. It has a very uneasy feel to the whole thing. I don't think I've seen it for about 12 years though, maybe I need to revisit it. Like Kalel said, it's probably Greenaway's most 'accessible' piece.

@kalel your sentiments about To the Wonder are pretty close to my own. I think maybe the problem is that it's too soon since The Tree of Life to deliver another film in the same vein. Trying to figure out whether if Wonder came before Tree of Life I'd think better of it, but I genuinely think it's the weaker of the two.

craigy wrote:
@kalel your sentiments about To the Wonder are pretty close to my own. I think maybe the problem is that it's too soon since The Tree of Life to deliver another film in the same vein. Trying to figure out whether if Wonder came before Tree of Life I'd think better of it, but I genuinely think it's the weaker of the two.

Maybe, but The New World was also pretty much the same kind of thing, but like Tree of Life just more interesting somehow. Although not much to be honest. But yes, the gap between Tree of Life and To the Wonder is perhaps too short. I do wonder in fact how he managed to film it so quickly give every single shot of the film appeared to be a sunrise shot. I'd have thought there weren't enough days.

Bit worried he has disappeared up his own arse. As much as I like his last few films, Badlands. Days of Heaven and The Thin Red Line are significantly better imo.

Do you reckon Malick decided to cut most of Affleck's performance out from the edit like he did with Adrien Brody in The Thin Red Line? Affleck was barely present, but I can't figure out if that's a deliberate choice to serve the story and depict the character as cold/distant/not in the moment, or whether he couldn't give enough improv-wise and there wasn't enough filmed material to work with to make him a coherent character.

I do wonder how much it's up to Malick to have all these superstars in his films. It does feel like it's more about tricking people into actually seeing them than anything else. My guess is that it's the studio demanding the big names.

Although Rachel McAdams was very good in To the Wonder. It suddenly became much more interesting when she was in it.

Deserved of the Oscar if you ask me, for the shit he gets Ben Affleck could well be one hell of a director over the next 20 years. I'v already pretty much enjoyed everything he has done so far. Crazy talent when you consider he was involved in such turds as reindeer games.

Olga Kurylenko (or however you spell it) is the main lead. McAdams has about 5 minutes of screen time. Affleck barely says two lines. The marketing materials definitely don't represent the film in terms of who the stars are.

Been checking out the Shameless collection. They’re from the 1970’s / 1980’s and tend to be constructed from various sources to build up the most complete version of each film available. Picture quality varies quite abit, and its not uncommon for the film to switch from English dubbed to Italian for example.

23 - Satan’s Baby Doll / La Bimba di Satana (1982)

Poor stuff, even by Shameless standards. It made Papaya Del Caraibi (1978) seem good. The story revolves around Jacqueline who is possessed by a wicked spirit of her dead mother, and takes place in a castle. Even the nudity couldn’t save this one.